It is currently Tuesday, September 25th. I haven't posted in a few days because of internet problems, so I think I have to update you on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Saturday was a day of real excitement around here! Most of the older kids participated in a soccer (football, as it's called down here) tournament in Ensenada. Ensenada is about 45 minutes south of here. It's a fairly big city of about 300,000 people and sits on the Pacific Ocean. There are surrounding hills from which one can get a good view of the sprawling city.
While in Ensenada, we had some errands to run for the orphanage so I didn't get to watch much of the soccer tournament. I was able to chat with some of the kids during one of their breaks. You may notice that the the backs of their jerseys say "Puerta de Fe," which translates to "Door of Faith."
The tournament started at 10 a.m. and finished about 3 or 4 p.m. The orphanage had several teams playing in the tournament. In order to play, the teams had already beat out several other teams from the local area! Very cool. We took four vans and about 70 people to the tournament (don't ask how we fit that many people). Our teen boys came in 3rd place and our teen girls won the tournament in their age bracket!!! So very cool for these kids! Depending upon the rest of the tournaments throughout the country, our girls could end up playing in another tournament and eventually move on up soccer ladder to the national championships! (I think I have that right). Unfortunately, Saturday's win doesn't ensure that the girls will actually make it to the next level. Apparently they compare the other teams not based solely upon wins, but upon overall score. So, if another team that won a tournament scored more goals, they would be the one to go to the next level. Seems weird to me, but I guess that's the way they do it.
Our MVP:
The girl champs:
The excited girls on the way home practically screamed the entire trip (which was a bit of a fiasco in its own right):
We got back from Ensenada around 6 or 6:30 pm. What an exhausting day! After some dinner and an attempt to get on the internet (unsuccessful), I decided to head to bed and catch up on my sleep. Getting up Friday at 4:15 a.m. and then Saturday at 6:30 a.m. took its toll on me.
Sunday we had church again. Once again, Kylie and I picked up Felicia and Charlie The service was great! This time, DJ translated the entire service into English, so that certainly helped. After the service, we took Felicia and Charlie home.
On the way home, they told us about their struggle to collect the money they are owed from the sale of their last house. They apparently paid about $1,200 for wood to construct their old house. They agreed to sell it to another family, payable over time for a total of $300! Can you imagine selling your house for $300?!?!?! Sadly and unfairly, the family isn't paying as they're supposed to pay. So far, Felicia and Charlie have only received $56 for their house. Remember, these are people that need every spare bit of change. So sad! I wish there was a way to intercede and help them get their money, but I just don't know how. It's a tragic tale for a couple who are new to God; I know their faith is shaken. How could God let this happen to them? I am reminded that God doesn't always give us what we want, but what we need. I suspect that what Felicia, in particular, needs is not necessarily money (which sounds strange given how poor she is). She's very angry that the other family isn't paying and has threatened to burn the house down if they don't pay. When I suggested that she couldn't do that, her response was, "Why not? It's our wood!" I pray that whatever lesson The Lord is teaching her is one that she can understand. No one should go through life that angry. What's worse is that I have a hard time being around those types of people and could offer no comfort to either Felicia or Charlie. For the girl who seems to always have something to say, I was rather quiet. I know that part of my silence is to avoid having her anger directed at me. I've learned that lesson! But I don't know how to help and it's frustrating!!! I know there's a lesson in there for me too and I pray that it is revealed soon.
When we dropped of Felicia and Charlie, they said that they may not go to church anymore. When we asked why, the indicated that there is a group that brings a bible study much closer to their home. I hope that's true and that they don't stop going because they're angry with God or the church. At least this time I remembered to get a picture of their "waterfall":
After church, it was sort of a lazy day around the orphanage. I was able to get a lot of work done on my book. (For those that don't know, I'm writing a book about my journey and the process of self-discovery I'm going through. Because I have a blog and the book, there's a lot of the in-depth stuff that I don't include in my blog. I'm sure you understand. :) Anyway, at least I got some writing done during the internet down time).
One of the women we took to Bonfil is a cook here named Ellie (sp?). Her brother (Eric) and sister-in-law (Esperanza) work on a farm in Bonfil that was willing to donate some vegetables to the orphanage, so we packed up and headed out for a day of farming. What fun! Now, I know I couldn't do it for a living, but it was tons of fun!
At the first farm, we picked zucchini for about 20-30 minutes. They let us have that zucchini and then some. Afterwards we drove to another farm and convinced the farmer to let us pick some of his crops. We got two kinds of peppers/chilies, tomatoes and tomatillos. It was a good thing we went that day because the farmer was actually getting ready to cut down the rest of the plants, as harvest is over.
After our afternoon in the fields, we went back to Eric and Esperanza's house and picked some pears, pomegranates, figs and some other weird fruit that doesn't appear to have an English translation.
We also visited Ellie's grandmother (who must be in her 90s) and Esperanza's parents. I got to see a bit of Bonfil and experience a little life there. Wow. Just wow. What a great lesson in humility and thanks. The pictures don't do this place much justice and can't impart to you the overwhelming sense of community and care of the place.
I'll give you an example, there are 35 families in Bonfil. They have all agreed to put in 10 pesos for 6 years. Every two months, they draw a family's name from their list and that family gets the pesos collected in those two months for a project on their home (either a new home or a remodel) and the whole community of families must help with the construction. Once a family's name is drawn, they cannot receive again and they must continue to put their pesos in for the other families. Now THAT'S community.
Some of the people dry their chillies on their roofs:
Below is Esperanza and Eric's kitchen. As you can see, it is quite simple, but perfectly sufficient. The walls are made of plywood and plastered on the outside. There are no frills, just necessity. When things fall into disrepair, they fix it with whatever is available.
It's this sort of humble life that angers me a little bit about complaining people. No, now that I think of it, it makes me really angry. I realize life is different in the States, but most people I know have no idea what poor really means. Most people I know have no idea that when they're complaining about the fact that they can't afford a nicer place to live, this is the epitome of the right to complain (and I realize that I will travel to other places that will have even less than the people here).
On the drive home, we passed a military checkpoint. It's part of Mexico's war on drug-related crimes. I thought this sign was so funy that I just have to share it. It took us a while to figure out what they were saying. How many misspellings and weird translations can you find? ;)
Well, I'm off! Hopefully I'll be able to load another update tonight or tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment